Nyheder

EGF pays €25.3 million to help redundant workers in France, Ireland, The Netherlands, Spain and Sweden

19/12/2012

The European Commission has made payments to France, Ireland, The Netherlands, Spain and Sweden from the European Globalisation adjustment Fund (EGF).

The total amount of €25.3 million will help 4722 workers in those countries back into employment, following their dismissals in a wide variety of sectors including aluminium, broadband services, metal products, construction, car manufacture and the pharmaceutical industry.

The break-down of the total €25.3 million is as follows:

€11.9 million will help 2089 former workers of PSA Peugeot-Citroën in France. The redundancies are a consequence of the financial and economic crisis which resulted in a substantial decrease in demand for new motor vehicles in the second half of 2008, especially in Western Europe.

€4.3 million will help 700 former workers of the pharmaceutical enterprise AstraZeneca in Sweden. The dismissals are linked to major structural changes in world trade patterns due to globalisation. Many non-European countries are designing strategies for biosciences and industry in areas of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical technology. European companies have had to adapt their production to this situation. AstraZeneca followed the trend and adopted a new R&D strategy in 2010. This included the necessity to focus on fewer disease areas, closures of sites and significantly greater utilisation of external resources through outsourcing.

€2.8 million will help 435 dismissed workers from 54 Dutch enterprises operating in the construction sector. The redundancies are a consequence of the financial and economic crisis. The construction sector in the Netherlands as well as in the entire European Union has been severely affected by the crisis. Loans to the construction sector and to individuals have been drastically reduced, prices of the construction materials increased while the demand for new houses decreased due to declining consumer confidence and the lack of cash. Moreover the economic and financial crisis resulted in reduction of public expenditure which had a direct negative impact on investments in infrastructure and housing programmes.

€2.6 million will help 432 former workers of Talk Talk, a broadband services provider, in Ireland. The redundancies were a direct result of the company’s decision to consolidate activities with three chosen outsourcers. In 2011, the company adopted strategic alliances with three non-EU providers. As a result a significant bulk of work has been transferred to these third country providers.

€2 million will help 450 dismissed workers from 35 Spanish manufacturers of fabricated metal products for shipbuilders. Order books of European shipyards decreased dramatically since 2008. As a consequence the workforce in shipbuilding and its ancillary industries in Europe declined.

€1.4 million will help 616 former workers of the aluminium manufacturer Zalco Aluminium Zeeland Company NV in The Netherlands. The dismissals were a consequence of the financial and economic crisis which resulted in a substantial decrease in demand for aluminium products.